What about the hostages left?

After the release of six more hostages kidnapped by FARC, the fate of the ones who remain captive is uncertain due to the Colombian government states that it will not release guerrilla members in exchange. They are a group of 16 people, formed by military, police and civil hostages.

For FARC the hostages are either military or political prisoners, the same as the guerrilla members who are detained in the country's prisons. Along these lines, the revolutionary force expects to exchange its prisoners with the ones from the government. In the other hand, for the Colombian government the idea is not valid. That is why the releases by FARC have been unilateral.

Regardless of that, the ones who are in the middle of the storm and who get mostly affected by all this are the hostages themselves, the same as, in my opinion, the soldiers, policemen and "private" guerrillas who are the ones who face the enemy and risk their freedom and lives.The government leaders, the top military commanders and the guerrilla leaders are away from the battle field, safe and sound. In most of the cases, the hostages are poor people or, at least, people who do not have anything to do directly with the conflict. The "private" guerrillas are, I think, poor people who do not have more choice than joining the illegal groups which brainwash them. In all the chances, they loose.

The Colombian ex senator Piedad Cordoba, the one who is accused of benefit FARC, the one who was nominated for the Nobel Prize that Barak Obama won and the one who mediates between the Colombian government and the revolutionary group, assured that by this year's June all the hostages will be released, despite the government questions the FARC releasing methods and the guerrilla actual proposes.

We Colombians hope that the ex senator is right and this releases could be a first step for an agreement between both sides, and therefore the achievement of the so-wanted peace that we really need for us and for our children. I do not know whether we can agree the so-called Humanitarian Exchange, I do not know either whether that could be the answer. What I do know is that I don not agree with that possibility.

Comments

The John F. Kennedy's district in Bogota, Colombia.

Bogota, Colombia's capital city, is divided by 20 districts (Localidades, in Sapnish). One of them was named Kennedy, after the former president of the United States who founded the district himself. This district is the most populated, 1,5 million inhabitants, and one of the largest in Bogota. John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie visted Bogota in Dicember 1961 within the framework of the Alliance for Progress, in which Kennedy founded the neighborhood for the poorest people in the city. The neighborhood was named then Ciudad Techo (Techo City) and 12.000 houses began to be build. In 1964 after Kennedy's assessination the residents of the neighborhood changed its name to Ciudad Kennedy (Kennedy City) and the Council of Bogota approved the name change in 1966. President Kennedy inaugurates the housing project Ciudad Techo (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum) Last November 22nd, 50th anniversary Kennedy's assassination, the residents of the d...

The kidnapped general.

General Mendieta is a Colombia National Police commissioned officer who was recently rescued from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia FARC after eleven years of kidnapping. He was took prisoner in 1998 in the city of Mitu, in the Colombian Amazon, when he was practicing as the commander of city police bureau, in the rank of litenuant colonel. During his captivity he was promoted by the Colombian Government to the the ranks of colonel, Brigade General and Major General. Mendieta was rescued with three more Armed Forces of Colombia members by Colombia Army through 'The Chameleon Operation'. Until that day General Mendieta was the police and military force kidnapped the with the highest rank in the world. Two facts involves me with this. The first one is that I produced a journalism report on it as a prelude of General Mendieta's rescue. It was by the way of his last promotion which was particular due to the general's obvious absence. Then, I attended the ceremony ...

A low-popularity Colombian female senator was nomanated to Nobel Prize of Peace.

Her name is Piedad Cordoba. Although she belongs to one of the traditional parties in Colombia (Liberal), she is opposite to government and, according to some sectors of the country, she sympathizes with the left-winged guerrilla FARC. The Colombian authorities have done research into her for supposed links with FARC. She leads the humanitarian group Colombians for Peace, and she certainly simpathizes with Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. Piedad Cordoba has become well-known internationally because of her intermediary work in the Humanitarian agreement of kidnapped people and FARC prisoners, between the Colombian government and the guerrilla. In early 2008, she, together with the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, achieved the release of six kiddnaped politicians. Because of this, she won the Prince of Asturias Prize. Even when Colombian president Alvaro Uribe din not authorized Cordoba's intermediary work anymore, she achieved again the release of three kidnapped policemen and o...

From Colombia

Search This Blog